Monday, August 29, 2011

7 Layer Finger Jello

I used to make 7 Layer Finger Jello a lot, until my friend JustJenn turned me onto Broken Glass Jello. Broken Glass Jello takes less hands-on time in the kitchen. You need to be around more for 7 Layer Jello (each layer needs to chill out for 15 minutes). However, both are tasty and always a crowd pleaser!

Please make sure you have a level refrigerator! :)

With the wide variety of flavors now, you can make this layered Jello in all different colors! My original recipe called for lemon, orange, lime, strawberry because they didn't have blue and purple back in the big hair days. (Please note - you only need 3 ounces or a small box of Jello per layer. I'm showing you 6 ounce boxes because that's what I have. I used my scale to measure out half a box, or 3 ounces and saved the rest.)

You need to make 4 layers of Jello. It's totally simple. Small box of Jello (3 ounces), and half an envelope of Knox gelatin. Dissolve in 1 cup boiling water, cool to warm temp and then pour into the 9 x 13 Pyrex pan. I make the next flavor while the milk layer is chilling - that allows the mixture to cool for 15 minutes.

Note: Some recipe books say you should "grease" the pan with mayonnaise or Pam spray. This recipe doesn't call for that and I usually don't grease my pans when making Jello.

The Milk layer is condensed milk, water and some gelatin. You need to bloom the gelatin by measuring out 1/2 cup of COLD water into a small bowl. Then sprinkle 2 envelopes of gelatin on top. Let it sit for 2-3 minutes until the gelatin blooms. Add 1/2 cup of boiling water to fully dissolve the gelatin. Then that mixture gets added to the sweetened condensed milk + boiling water mixture.

You can change up the colors in all different ways - Red & Green for Christmas, Blue & Yellow for UCLA Football game! I made a Valentine's Day one here. Have fun!!

4 small packages (3 oz) Jello in different colors (such as lemon, orange, lime, strawberry)
(If you buy the larger 6 oz packages, just measure out half the mixture)

4 envelopes of unflavored gelatin (each Knox envelope is 1/4 ounces)

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)

Boiling water

You will have 4 layers of Jello and 3 layers of milk. Start and end with Jello.

Jello Layer:
Mix one 3-ounce package of Jello with 1/2 package of Knox. (1 package of Knox is approximately 2 1/4 t so half a package is 1 1/8 t).
Add 1 cup boiling water and stir to dissolve.
Cool to room temperature and pour into 9 x 13 pan.
Refrigerate 15 minutes until solid enough for next layer.

Milk Layer:
In a large bowl, mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with 1 cup boiling water.
In a small bowl, place1/2 cup cold water. Sprinkle 2 packages of Knox unflavored gelatin on the water. Allow to sit for a 2-3 minutes for gelatin to bloom. Add 1/2 cup boiling water to dissolve the gelatin.
Combine the dissolved gelatin with the milk mixture.
This will yield a little more than 3 cups of milk mixture. Each layer will get about 1 cup of milk.
Cool to room temperature and pour over the Jello mixture. Refrigerate 15 minutes until solid enough for next layer.

Repeat Jello and Milk layers (starting and ending with Jello)
Refrigerate until Jello is fully set and cut into blocks or shapes.

This just may turn me onto jello. You've got me thinking about Christmas/Thanksgiving and I think I may make this. In the recipe you said to use 4 3oz boxes. If I choose to use, say, only red and green, could I use 2 6oz boxes and make them up? Or would getting it to set properly be a problem? I never thougt you could do cool stuff with jello. :)

@Anonymous I had 6 ounce boxes of Jello...you just need to cut in half to 3 ounces. So, for Christmas, you can get one large box of red and green. Use half the box (which is 3 ounces) for each layer. - mary

@Anonymous Wakana, You may try a light light spray of Pam and then use a paper towel to wipe most of it off (so you don't have big coating of the stuff). Or, I read other old school Jello recipes that say to grease it with a very thin coating of mayonnaise (again, I would wipe off any excess). I use a small offset spatula to help me get my finger Jello out of the pan. I hope one of these ideas works for you! - mary

my Bachan always makes jello like this but just two colors and instead of condensed milk she uses cream. All my cousins and my brother and sisters always look forward to Bachan Jello at all the holiday parties. this though is just taking it to the next level. beautiful!

@Camie Camie, I don't know if you can use soy milk or similar product - never done that before. Perhaps you could sweeten coconut milk... again, never tried. However, you can skip the whole milk layer and just layer the jello flavors. The layers will look very different as there is no white layer for contrast.

@Camie You could do a clear layer, juice layer, or milk-alternative layer...but I would definitely sweeten it with some sugar. The sweetened condensed milk comes pre-sweetened. If you don't sweeten a layer of gelatin, it'll probably not taste very good. Good luck!

I've made this for years and it's always been a hit. Mine is a little different in that the white layer you have, mine is a "milky" color of the layer below. First layer is clear - second layer uses half of the clear mixture with sour cream added to it. Kids have always loved it!

I adore jello and your recipe is so pretty and exciting. Unfortunately my milk mixture would not set properly, even though I followed the ingredients to the letter and used the right milk. I even upped the gelatine content and tried chilling it a little first, but it only soft-set. I finally decided to just mix it in with the jello/gelatine layers, which seemed to do the trick.

It was delicious, but nowhere near as pretty as yours...any tips for how I can make it work in the future?

Wanted to let you know I just made this for a first communion party with blue and green layers and it was a big hit. Very pretty! I will definitely be making this again. Thanks so much for posting this recipe : )

Those who grew up in Hawai'i in the 70s call this "slipper jello" because of the way it resembles the then-fashionable "kamaboko slippers." The slippers (flip flops) were super soft like Japanese kamaboko fishcake and had colorful layers, like this jello.

@Jaques Yew #33 Jaques, According to David Lebovitz, a packet of Knox gelatin is equal to 1/4 ounce powdered gelatin. I've never used sheets for this. You may wish to see David Lebovitz's blog post about gelatin here: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/04/how-to-use-gelatin/

@Ellen Tsang Dear Ellen, Not use milk? See my comment #23. I'm not sure what you would use instead. This isn't the best recipe for someone with a milk allergy (since 1/2 the recipe involves milk). You can't easily substitute soy milk for the sweetened condensed milk because it needs to be condensed and sweetened and I'm not sure of the ratio you would need to do that. You might try coconut milk but again, I'm not sure of the ratio to sweeten it. - mary

I just came across your blog from Pinterest and you have such wonderful looking recipes here! I love your photos and I can't wait to try this Jello cake. Do you happen to know the best tool for making such clean cuts like you have in your photos? Would a regular knife work? Thanks so much for any suggestions!!